Landlord admin charges

salieri75

We're just negotiating moving into a new property and the (private) landlord is charging us a fee for reference checking and for setting up a tenancy deposit scheme.
Although its a pretty nominal fee especially compared with what agents charge, are these not the sort of costs a landlord would be allowed to from their tax bill, therefore effectively double dipping?

HappyMJ

salieri75 wrote: »

We're just negotiating moving into a new property and the (private) landlord is charging us a fee for reference checking and for setting up a tenancy deposit scheme.
Although its a pretty nominal fee especially compared with what agents charge, are these not the sort of costs a landlord would be allowed to from their tax bill, therefore effectively double dipping?

LOL...They should have built that cost into the rent. If LL wants to charge and you're willing to pay then there's no problem.

TDS is free for the custodial scheme. There is no charge.

Reference checking does cost and as long as the LL is charging you exactly what the LL is paying out then they can't be seen as profiteering.

Just make sure the LL isn't going to charge you for things like the gas safety certificate and repairs that need doing.

wesleyad

I believe reducing the cost from the tax bill just means they don't pay tax, they aren't recovering full costs.

Scenario A: You pay the costs (say £100). He has 0 profit/loss on this and tax in unaffected. He can't deduct this from his tax bill as he hasn't paid it (you have)

Scenario B: He pays. Now at end of the year he has a £100 loss he can take off his tax bill. For simplicity lets say he has made £100 (bad year!) He is due to pay 20% on this, so £20. However he takes off the £100 he paid in fees and so tax is now 20% of nothing.

So in scenario B he would still pay £80 of the fee and HMRC would be paying £20. In A you are paying £100. To the landlord A makes more sense if he can get away with it.

Guest101

salieri75 wrote: »

We're just negotiating moving into a new property and the (private) landlord is charging us a fee for reference checking and for setting up a tenancy deposit scheme.
Although its a pretty nominal fee especially compared with what agents charge, are these not the sort of costs a landlord would be allowed to from their tax bill, therefore effectively double dipping?

How much is it?

If it's under £50, thats reasonable.

If it's under £75, that's pushing it, but still cheaper.

If it's £100+ i might start to wonder.

But really it's this:

Do you want the house or not?

stator

Welcome to the world of private renting.

They can charge what they want, they are all rip off merchants.

If you don't like the charges, refuse to pay them or look elsewhere.

thesaint

HappyMJ wrote: »

TDS is free for the custodial scheme. There is no charge.

I wish tenants were allowed to register their own deposits.

clarky_cat

I've recently become a private landlord and wouldn't have dreamed of charging a fee for the tenancy deposit scheme. Its free and it takes about 10 minutes to complete the online form. They sound like rip off merchants, probably best to check there aren't any other surprise "admin" fees before you sign anything. .

mrginge

thesaint wrote: »

I wish tenants were allowed to register their own deposits.

= 'I wish tenants would do LL/LA's job for them'

thesaint

mrginge wrote: »

= 'I wish tenants would do LL/LA's job for them'

So it is a job. Glad we got that clear.

benjus

HappyMJ wrote: »

TDS is free for the custodial scheme. There is no charge.

Sorry to be pedantic, but TDS does not operate a custodial scheme.

jjlandlord

In a reply to this thread I pointed out that OP had no idea what running a business was and how profit was worked out.

It was censored and I got the following private message:

MSE_Megan wrote:

Hi,

This is your final warning before a two week ban from the forum.

It is always heart-warming to be victimised.